The 2023 Sun Belt Conference football season was the 23rd season of

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

play for the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams particip ...

(SBC). The season began on August 31, 2023 and ended with its conference championship game on December 2, 2023. It was part of the

2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season is the 154th season of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). ...

. The conference consists of 14 member schools split into two divisions. The conference released its full season schedule on February 24, 2023.

Previous season

During the 2022 Sun Belt Conference football season,

Coastal Carolina Coastal Carolina University (CCU or Coastal) is a public university in Conway, South Carolina. Founded in 1954 as Coastal Carolina Junior College, and later joining the University of South Carolina System as USC Coastal Carolina, it became an in ...

won the east division, while

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Ç ...

won the west division. In the conference championship game, Troy defeated Coastal Carolina by a score of 45–26. Troy advanced to the Cure Bowl where they defeated UTSA. Coastal Carolina advanced to the

Birmingham Bowl The Birmingham Bowl is a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Division I FBS college football bowl game played annually in Birmingham, Alabama. First held in 2006, the game is owned and operated by ESPN Events. The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UA ...

, where they lost to

East Carolina East Carolina University (ECU) is a public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a teacher training school, East Carolina has grown from its orig ...

Preseason

Preseason Media Poll

The SBC released its preseason poll on July 24. James Madison was named the favorite to win the East Division, while Troy was named the favorite to win the West Division.

Preseason All-Conference teams

* Offensive Player of the Year:

Grayson McCall Grayson McCall (born December 13, 2000) is an American football quarterback with the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers. Early years At the age of 12, McCall joined a traveling Little League all-star baseball team that played in a televised tourname ...

(Redshirt Senior, Coastal Carolina quarterback) * Defensive Player of the Year:

Jason Henderson Jason Douglas Henderson (born September 4, 1971) is an American writer of computer games, novels and several comic book series. He is the writer of the young adult novel series Alex Van Helsing from HarperCollins and the comic book series '' Sw ...

, (Junior, Old Dominion linebacker)

Head Coaches

*On November 27, 2022, Texas State announced that it had fired head coach

Jake Spavital Jacob Stephen Spavital (born May 1, 1985) is an American college football coach who is the offensive coordinator for the California Golden Bears. He previously served as the head football coach at Texas State University from 2019 to 2022. Coachi ...

. Spavital had posted a record of 13–35 over four years at the school. On December 7, 2022, Texas State announced Incarnate Word's head coach

G. J. Kinne Gary Joe "G. J." Kinne III (born December 1, 1988) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is currently the head coach at Texas State University (TXST) in San Marcos, Texas. He was signed by the New York Jets as an undrafted fr ...

would take over as the new head coach for the 2023 season. *On December 4, 2022,

Jamey Chadwell Jamey Chadwell (born January 10, 1977) is an American football coach and former player, who serves as the head coach at Liberty University; he also served as head coach for Costal Carolina and interim HC in the 2017 season while permanent head co ...

announced that he was leaving Coastal Carolina to take over the head coaching position at

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

. Later on December 4, Coastal announced

NC State North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The university ...

offensive coordinator Tim Beck as the new head coach beginning in 2023.

Postseason changes

* On November 26, Louisiana–Monroe announced that it had fired head coach

Terry Bowden Terry Wilson Bowden (; born February 24, 1956) is an American college football coach, currently the head coach at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. Bowden was previously head coach at Salem University (1983–1985), Samford University (1987 ...

after 3 seasons with the team. On December 5, the school announced that former UAB head coach Bryant Vincent would take over as the new head coach for 2024. * On November 30, James Madison head coach

Curt Cignetti Curt Cignetti (born June 2, 1961) is an American football coach who has been the head coach of the James Madison Dukes since 2019. He previously served as the head coach for Elon University and was an assistant coach for the University of Alabam ...

announced that he would leave the school to take the head coach position at

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

for the 2024 season. Assistant head coach and offensive line coach Damian Wroblewski was named the acting head coach for James Madison's bowl game. On December 7, the school announced that

Bob Chesney Robert Edward Chesney (born August 10, 1977) is an American football coach. On December 14, 2017, he was named the 28th head football coach at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. A graduate of Dickinson College, Chesney w ...

would become the new head coach for 2024. Chesney had previously been head coach at Holy Cross. * On December 8, Troy head coach

Jon Sumrall Jon Sumrall (born July 5, 1982) is an American college football coach. He is the head football coach at Troy University, a position he has held since the 2022 season. Coaching career Sumrall began his coaching career at his alma mater, Kentucky W ...

was announced as the new head coach of

Tulane Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

in the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...

for the 2024 season. The school's defensive coordinator Greg Gasparato was named the interim head coach. On December 18, Troy announced

Gerad Parker Gerad Michael Parker (born January 4, 1981) is an American football coach and former wide receiver. He is the tight ends coach at Notre Dame. He was previously the offensive coordinator at West Virginia University. Parker played college footba ...

as the new head coach for 2024. Parker was previously the offensive coordinator at Notre Dame.

Rankings

Schedule

The 2023 schedule was released on February 24, 2023.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Week 13

Championship Game

Postseason

Bowl Games

Rankings are from Final CFP rankings. All times Central Time Zone.

Selection of teams

*Bowl eligible (12): Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, James Madison, Louisiana, Marshall, Old Dominion, South Alabama, Texas State, Troy *Bowl ineligible (2): Louisiana–Monroe, Southern Miss

Sun Belt records vs other conferences

2023–2024 records against non-conference foes: Postseason

Sun Belt vs Power 5 matchups

This is a list of games the Sun Belt has scheduled versus power conference teams (

ACC ACC most often refers to: * Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US *American College of Cardiology, A US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular spec ...

, Big 10,

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its f ...

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

, Notre Dame and SEC). All rankings are from the current AP Poll at the time of the game.

Sun Belt vs Group of Five matchups

The following games include Sun Belt teams competing against teams from the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

C-USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are ...

, MAC, or

Mountain West The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations o ...

Sun Belt vs FBS independents matchups

The following games include Sun Belt teams competing against FBS Independents, which includes

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

UConn The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Ha ...

, or UMass.

Sun Belt vs FCS matchups

Home game attendance

Bold – At or Exceeded capacity
†Season High

Awards and honors

Player of the week honors

Sun Belt individual awards

The following individuals received postseason honors as voted by the Sun Belt Conference football coaches at the end of the season.

All-Conference teams

The following players were selected as part of the Sun Belt's All-Conference Teams.

All-Americans

Currently, the NCAA compiles consensus all-America teams in the sports of Division I-FBS football and Division I men's basketball using a point system computed from All-America teams named by coaches associations or media sources. The system consists of three points for a first-team honor, two points for second-team honor, and one point for third-team honor. Honorable mention and fourth team or lower recognitions are not accorded any points.

College Football All-American The College Football All-America Team is an honor given annually to the best college football players in the United States at their respective positions. The original use of the term ''All-America'' seems to have been to the 1889 College Football ...

consensus teams are compiled by position and the player accumulating the most points at each position is named first team consensus all-American. Currently, the NCAA recognizes All-Americans selected by the AP, AFCA, FWAA, ''TSN'', and the WCFF to determine Consensus and Unanimous All-Americans. Any player named to the First Team by all five of the NCAA-recognized selectors is deemed a Unanimous All-American.

Notes

References

{{Sun Belt Conference football navbox